New speech-jamming gun hints at dystopian Big Brother future

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Japanese researchers have created a hand-held gun (pictured above) that can jam the words of speakers who are more than 30 meters (100ft) away. The gun has two purposes, according to the researchers: At its most basic, this gun could be used in libraries and other quiet spaces to stop people from speaking — but its second application is a lot more chilling.

The researchers were looking for a way to stop “louder, stronger” voices from saying more than their fair share in conversation. The paper reads: “We have to establish and obey rules for proper turn-taking when speaking. However, some people tend to lengthen their turns or deliberately interrupt other people when it is their turn in order to establish their presence rather than achieve more fruitful discussions. Furthermore, some people tend to jeer at speakers to invalidate their speech.” In other words, this speech-jamming gun was built to enforce “proper” conversations.

The gun works by listening in with a directional microphone, and then, after a short delay of around 0.2 seconds, playing it back with a directional speaker. This triggers an effect that psychologists call Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF), which has long been known to interrupt your speech (you might’ve experienced the same effect if you’ve ever heard your own voice echoing through Skype or another voice comms program). According to the researchers, DAF doesn’t cause physical discomfort, but the fact that you’re unable to talk is obviously quite stressful.

Suffice it to say, if you’re a firm believer in free speech, you should now be experiencing a deafening cacophony of alarm bells. Let me illustrate a few examples of how this speech-jamming gun could be used.

At a political rally, an audience member could completely lock down Santorum, Romney, Paul, or Obama from speaking. On the flip side, a totalitarian state could point the speech jammers at the audience to shut them up. Likewise, when a celebrity or public figure appears on a live TV show, his contract could read “the audience must be silenced with speech jammers.”

Then there’s Harrison Bergeron, one of my favorite short stories by Kurt Vonnegut. In the story’s dystopian universe, everyone wears “handicaps” to ensure perfect social equality. Strong people must lug around heavy weights, beautiful people must wear masks, and intelligent people must wear headphones that play a huge blast of sound every few seconds, interrupting your thoughts. The more intelligent you are, the more regular the blasts.

Back here in our universe, it’s not hard to imagine a future where we are outfitted with a variety of implanted electronics or full-blown bionic organs. Just last week we wrote about Google’s upcoming augmented-reality glasses, which will obviously have built-in earbuds. Late last year we covered bionic eyes that can communicate directly with the brain, and bionic ears and noses can’t be far off.

In short, imagine if a runaway mega-corporation or government gains control of these earbuds. Not only could the intelligence-destroying blasts from Harrison Bergeron come to pass, but with Delayed Auditory Feedback it would be possible to render the entire population mute. Well, actually, that’s a lie: Apparently DAF doesn’t work with utterances like “ahhh!” or “boooo!” or other non-wordy constructs. So, basically, we’d all be reduced to communicating with grunts and gestures.

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http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6JXCPS7SULDTTZYPCGSVP67RQM Dave K

Personally… I’m all for this even at political events. My hope is that the politician speaking will have one of these gadgets to shut up protestors. Then, in turn, the protestors will have one to shut up the politician. In the end, everyone just shuts up and the rest of the world (those that aren’t complete morons) gets to live in peace, quiet and happily ever after.

Oh… and political news pundits and op-ed opinion talking heads… this would be great for them too!

http://disqus.com/sdmitch16/ Steven

Yes, then we’d never be able to hear anything in politics and when someone tries create a mandatory breathing license for which people can be rejected for any reason, no one would know. More realistically, a company could monopolize corn and sue farmers for growing crops that were infected with its patented genetically modified genes.

Anonymous

The not mad scientists invented your no bark collar! They already have public acceptance for a cattle prod for humans,cuz ya need that stuff.You are an evolved animal in their eyes,and you are just less evolved so they can inject you and look in your draweers too like a chicken in the corporate farm! Have you heard about the new way of efficient chicken production? Blind lobotomized footless chickens fed by tubes! LOL
I sure want to eat one of these ! See? They care about you getting good chicken so they turned them into meat machines with no cognizance of their existence! They are totally sane !
Blind Footless Chickens For Maximum Profit and Easehttp://farmwars.info/?p=7897
Welcome to the brave new world Stevie! Pssst after the chickens?You’re next ! Thats where it’s heading for the lesser evolved.These people have no respect for life,and the environment is a good excuse to get rid of ya!
Shhhhhhhhhhhh
haha

http://disqus.com/sdmitch16/ Steven

What should I be doing?

Del Morrison

A company has already monopolized corn, and is suing farmers for saving seed or having even a single rouge seed on their farms.
Monsanto

Del Morrison

A company has already monopolized corn, and is suing farmers for saving seed or having even a single rouge seed on their farms.
Monsanto

http://disqus.com/sdmitch16/ Steven

Don’t forget its mg crops can survive toxic round up, allowing round up to get into our bodies.

http://disqus.com/sdmitch16/ Steven

Yes, then we’d never be able to hear anything in politics and when someone tries create a mandatory breathing license for which people can be rejected for any reason, no one would know. More realistically, a company could monopolize corn and sue farmers for growing crops that were infected with its patented genetically modified genes.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IMJWD2BCMC55WZMDSONRQDC3CU row

You are a very sick individual. Get off your pedestal.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_N2E3PJZTJCNWVULZBSAV3CR2MU Tony

Except if a protestor points a gun like device at a politician they will be, and should be, taken out by Secret Service.

http://profile.yahoo.com/WTVNNGE4SDI5TZGLIB7U6Z2Y24 ann t

And if the government points it at protesters, that’s totally okay, right… Man, Orwell didn’t even know the half of it.

Anonymous

In order to be a big brother you need a little brother

http://twitter.com/iWankTV Raphael Baker

You sound quite stupid Tony. We need this gun pointed at you to shut you up.

http://twitter.com/bizmarkiedesade Ho Chi Mane

So you’ll volunteer to be first in line for silencing?

http://twitter.com/icetrout Chris Foltz

I want a photon-blaster to trump the free-speech blaster .Good to vaporize a few politicians to keep the rest in line :)

mori bund

This will be a great tool for regimes like China, Iran, Syria and – in a not so far future – our western “democraties”.

Anonymous

I don’t really see a need for a device like this. If people can’t be quiet when asked to, say in a library, they can be asked to leave. Or at a meeting, if someone keeps interrupting, you tell them to stop. Its called communication.

There should be no need to forcibly silence someone. What a pointless gadget.

Joel Matthews

+1

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KTPXXYBJZFJQKDJS37ARZJNCPM Count Cocula

There ya go. It all comes back to the idea, do people need to be taught, or forced. Sad. Sad. Sad…… I love Japan, but comon now guys…. Get your shit together and make inventions that actually save the fucking earth not the library you mental fucking midgets.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IMJWD2BCMC55WZMDSONRQDC3CU row

There’s a point to it … silencing dissent.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IMJWD2BCMC55WZMDSONRQDC3CU row

There’s a point to it … silencing dissent.

dutchs

I take it you’ve never seen video of an event where protestors shouted down a speaker. Frankly, that’s conspiring to violate someone’s civil rights and should be prosecuted as such. It is a hate crime.

Anonymous

It’s not a hate crime. Rude, absolutely. But in the best traditions of protestors for millenia. If the rest of the audience wants to oust the protestors, it can be done, but hate crime? Gimme a break.

Anonymous

If people can’t be quiet when asked they already have the electronic whip.They call it the taser! The not mad scientists are working overtime to protect the criminal bankers! The wicked flee when no one pursues them! Just shock them like you would a cow with a cattle prod is good enough.Now they have a no bark collar they can point at you! Of course it’s pointless unless you are a terrified politician or a banker who is robbing everyone blind.Then you need something like this and a electronic whip,and stress pills for all!

Private

Communication sucks. It is the reason of breaking silence in libraries and sometimes complete mess on meetings. Fortunately with this awesome tool upgraded it will be world where no unauthorized communication is possible.
I love science.

mori bund

You are absolutely right with your comment.
However, we both know (and of course also the researcher who built this gadget and is telling us some crap about libraries) that the certain countries, institutions and organizations who will buy this gadget will not use it to equip their libraries with it…

Anonymous

The point is that this device will ultimately be used for political purposes. Don’t like what someone is saying? Shut them up. I see this as the perfect tool for the current administation. The progressives have been working hard to shut up those that don’t follow the party line

Anonymous

” …we’d all be reduced to communicating with grunts and gestures.”

Seems MI5 must have had this tech for years then. The House of Commons and the House of Lords must have them blaring constantly.

Ryu

noice

meDilbert

How far are we from Head Phone that can nullify speech jammer?

http://twitter.com/babrahamse Ben Abrahamse

Ah, but those speech-jammer-jamming headphones will be useless, once they invent the speech jammer-jammer jammer!

Kristleifur Daðason

One more reason for learning sign language.

Eric-Sebastien Lachance

Brilliant!

See, the rebels of society are always one step ahead of the authorities. Then again, it’s kind of hard to scream with your hands and arms…

http://twitter.com/cpy85 cpy

People will learn to ignore its effects in time, so it will be rendered pointless after some time.

Jeff Wyant

I’m not sure how much they spent on creating this, but can’t you do the same thing with the can air horns you see at sporting events. When the other person talks just give them a blast for the air horn.

http://disqus.com/sdmitch16/ Steven

Better yet, hit them with enough infrared to produce pain. The device is already marketed and safe.

http://twitter.com/AmericaFreeTV AmericaFree.TV

Note, this doesn’t jam your speech, it jams your mind, and so could be “jammed” itself by using headphones or earplugs.

http://twitter.com/Cafeeine Cafeeine

Indeed. It seems to me that these effects can only work when a single person is speaking, and would be useless in the cacophony of a crowd. Furthermore it seems that a combination of noise cancelling headphones with those electronic hearing aids would enable you to shield yourself from the effect at the press of a button without having to take the headphones on and off.

Anonymous

As long as your first words are “Mike Check!” it’s going to be hard for them to shut enough of this down to matter.

I see a proliferation of P2P (smartphone-to-smartphone) apps so that people can read off the same script in real time and jam guns like this.

http://twitter.com/JP_PondMonster Jessie Pond Monster

I think this is a brilliant idea. I have been looking for an easy technical fix for the next person I meet who won’t stop talking about their amazing travel experiences in Thailand.

http://disqus.com/sdmitch16/ Steven

I’ve got an idea. If you have something important to say, why don’t you just push through the discomfort and keep talking? Public speaking beat death to be the biggest fear in America so I think people willing to speak publicly who have a message can fight past an echo.

http://disqus.com/sdmitch16/ Steven

I’ve got an idea. If you have something important to say, why don’t you just push through the discomfort and keep talking? Public speaking beat death to be the biggest fear in America so I think people willing to speak publicly who have a message can fight past an echo.

Anonymous

Hmm, I don’t know, the temptation of being able to shut up Santorum nearly outweighs the negatives…

Anonymous

Far better to silence Mullah Obama…

Waltzin Matilda

Anonymous

and then you get individuals like myself and most politicians. We love the sound of our own voices thus all that this device would do is get us to talk even more. With something like this, you’d never get me to shut up and once I adapt to the system, I’d figure out how to game it to increase how many people hear me. Just like a bull horn/megaphone – it will be a nice electronic amplifier.

Katrina Swales

Thats not how this works, it is nothing about not liking your own voice, it is the fact that it causes problems in the part of your brain dedicated to speech when this occurs.

Anonymous

No it doesn’t. The article drastically overstates the effect of delayed auditory feedback. It doesn’t magically shut down your speech centers. It’s just distracting. That’s it. You can learn to ignore it in a matter of seconds if you focus.

The entire concept of the device is BS.

Chris O’Keefe

Phasma is mostly right. Interestingly, this exact same technology is used in the treatment of certain stuttering disorders in order to IMPROVE fluency. It’s not that these stutterers are somehow immune to its effects, it’s just that with a bit of practice it becomes relatively easy to ignore. It -does- cause some issues in the brain, but anything which has a tendency to interrupt speech is going to show increased or decreased activity in the brain – that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn to ignore it.

This really is BS. It doesn’t prevent people from talking, it just makes talking slightly more difficult for some people.

Anonymous

No it doesn’t. The article drastically overstates the effect of delayed auditory feedback. It doesn’t magically shut down your speech centers. It’s just distracting. That’s it. You can learn to ignore it in a matter of seconds if you focus.

The entire concept of the device is BS.

Anonymous

Move over “Cone of Silence” from Get Smart

http://profiles.google.com/pasang Pasan Gonakumbura

a pair of 20 cent ear plugs will defeat this device.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_47E7CZ6OCXX3BODKIAVMOAKG7E Joe

any 5 year old knows you were born with 5 sets of free ear plugs…

fingers

http://twitter.com/Cafeeine Cafeeine

If your fingers are in your ears you can’t shield your eyes from the pepper spray :)

http://profiles.google.com/pasang Pasan Gonakumbura

a pair of 20 cent ear plugs will defeat this device.

Anonymous

I don’t don’t see the problem here. One person pulls out a speech gun and shoots it at someone being loud, the loud person pulls out a real gun and shoots the first person. End of problem.

http://twitter.com/guspaz Adam Zey

Having experienced this effect, it is indeed rather effective at making it very difficult (but not impossible) to talk. But it doesn’t do anything to prevent inarticulate noise. If you tried using it on an audience, and they were annoyed by that, they could all just shout incoherently, which is probably worse.

Chris O’Keefe

If you used it on an entire crowd then it would have no effect. What does the sound of an entire crowd sound like when you hit them with delayed audio feedback? A larger crowd. You’d need a different gun for every single person in the crowd, or at least many guns to cover a few people at the same time.

Keith Lichtenauer

Every husband needs one of these

http://twitter.com/amanicdroid user:

After dealing with this effect enough over shoddy telephone lines, I’ve learned to continue speaking. I doubt this will be effective enough to warrant the costs.

This is horrible. Anyone who’s into this is so blindly marching into 1984…… The people who make this shit live on FEAR. that simple. bunch of fucking idiots yall are. Peace, Love and Unity… Fuck the big brother compromise. We as humans will not be contained.

Page Turner

So where can I get one? I think it could save a lot of marriages.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KTPXXYBJZFJQKDJS37ARZJNCPM Count Cocula

And like…. who knows if this shit’s bad for you or not? We’re already taking a risk using cellphones all day every day. And not to mention all the radio/micro waves that are all around us, increasing year by year, and now were going to have fucking brain jammers pointed at our brains? I’ll fucking go to jail if someone ever tries to point one of these at me. I was born into this world a free fucking cunt, and I’ll be damned if anyone tries to shakle me, or any part of my body for that matter. Especially my cock.

http://bradhubbard.net calciphus

Can be defeated by earplugs. Not worried.

http://bradhubbard.net calciphus

Can be defeated by earplugs. Not worried.

Anonymous

Personally, I’m all for this at political events. My hope is that we can shut up the lying politicians!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_47E7CZ6OCXX3BODKIAVMOAKG7E Joe

im confused… ‘lying politicians’

are there any other kind?

Shawn McMahon

Right now the problems this device solves are handled by arresting people. Keep that in mind when you object to it.

http://profiles.google.com/ronald.trip Ronald Trip

Arrests which make for juicy footage and public outrage over censorship far wider than the event itself alone. Keep that in mind when you promote this.

Anonymous

This would never work – protester would just wear earbuds so they didn’t hear themselves speak, or condition themselves to ignore it (as anyone who uses Optus already has).

http://www.flawlessri.com/music_videos.html LLaqui

WTF!! lol whisper time..

Noojoke Seriously

Ok. Clearly those Japs are still our enemies. Blow them up. No wonder nuclear reactor tore them up. There will be more coming for them….

http://www.facebook.com/InklingBooks Michael W. Perry

This device should be easy to bypass. Put in sound-muffling earplugs, and the effect would be greatly weakened. I know. I use them when I work security at loud concerts. Add the very effective sort of headset protection used on aircraft flight lines (I have one, and it is amazing), and this delayed feedback would need to be jacked up very loud to even be heard by the targeted speaker, and doing that would deafening all those around him. Also, at that level, sound from the directional speaker would be bouncing all over, allowing the target person to take over the audience. The result would be chaos rather than control.

That’s not the only approach. Training can allow someone to defeat the bodily reactions measured by lie detectors. A conscious mind can control those unconscious reactions. A few hours training should teach someone to ignore this reflex.

Finally, how many such devices are these censors going to have on hand? Have six, and it would only take seven people to be disruptive. That’d create even more chaos than one heckler does.

My own solution isn’t high-tech. We desperately need more civility in our society. For the most part, our problem isn’t a Big Brother trying to censor us. I can post this without fear. Instead, the censorship is coming from angry losers who occupy parks and deny their use to others. No, right now, we need to fear Brownshirts attacking “the 1%”–whether they be Jews or the rich–more than we need fear the Gestapo. In the mid-1930s, Nazi Germany, a nation of 66 million people, had about 650,000 Jews or almost exactly 1% of the population. Race bigotry, class bigotry–its all the same.

–Michael W. Perry, editor of Chesterton on War and Peace: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to Nazism and World War II

http://twitter.com/cwm9 cwm9

Whatever. Plug your ears and talk anyway.

http://twitter.com/thorsmjollnir David Leach

I don’t think this thing emits audible noise. If you know anything about the physics of sound waves, you can simply cancel the wave so that you hear nothing.

Did you even bother to *read* the article??? It only works on humans…not machines.

http://profile.yahoo.com/5NF6YQDAUO4M5U3MDN2LQ7YNLQ Phil

Put in earplugs and new Speech Jamming gun is useless. I agree with AmericaFreeTV.
It would be rendered a total waste after one day of real world use.
You can’t shut us up, You can’t control us. I want one to point at Santorum.

Uhh, what about crime victims trying to scream for help…. this should NEVER be made!

Black Vista

This device should be destroyed and the inventor locked away.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1000922752 Matt Dansk

This would be perfect for parents with newborns babies or kids.

Anonymous

I think it will be a great tool to be used in domestic arguments :D

Anonymous

Anyone else still wondering why as many as 70% of divorces are initiated not by the husband…but by the wife???

Anonymous

Because wives get alimony? :D

Anonymous

Because wives get alimony? :D

http://profile.yahoo.com/6U5SKAOQFSLFLYOT7LJCJ5Q3NM Sam

How far is the range on this? I can’t imagine this actually being effective at a protest or some other group event, seeing as the person has to actually hear the playback. I don’t know too much about how far sound technology has advanced, so maybe it is possible. In which case protestors will purchase ear plugs. Seems like this would only be good for a laugh or in small groups, like the researchers intended it.

Anonymous

The supposed range is 100 feet. And like you, I have no idea about sound technology. However I doubt the people researching this were trying to produce a party toy for fun and laughs.

We are going to use this on the slaves real good, we Illuminati will shut you all up.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_S5I5V3IHKVD6S4SRJR24ILIT2M tracy

I’ve heard they have one for writing comments online that others think are unfairieryyy catt othersss oneee….onlineeee,,,hammm..itttt.

Kurt Frye

yessss! this is what I want! and I want the talking one for my kids… one as an option in my car… and a jammer jammer!

Anonymous

ahhh the ultimate form of protests passing gas

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_47E7CZ6OCXX3BODKIAVMOAKG7E Joe

funny…

Speech jamming research = $800 million
Fighting legal protests to deploy the ‘weapon’ = $300 million
The look on the idiots face when we stick our fingers in our ears and say, “La la la la”… PRICELESS

Illumin8r

He points the ‘jammer’ gun at me to stop me from talking.

I point my ‘real’ gun at him and continue to speak freely.

Problem solved.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7XFUOYVFPMFXWFHIXQF6FFJABU amicus curiae

totally ridiculous…but as waltzin matilda said..re oh bama
if it would shut Liar Gillards nauseating drone and agw ramblings up it would be a boon to australia.
one time use even:-)

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_N2E3PJZTJCNWVULZBSAV3CR2MU Tony

Finally a way to shut up all those libtard blowhards!! What that libbie, you hate jesus? sorry i cant hear you! lolololololol

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_N2E3PJZTJCNWVULZBSAV3CR2MU Tony

Finally a way to shut up all those libtard blowhards!! What that libbie, you hate jesus? sorry i cant hear you! lolololololol

Anonymous

And when they use it on you – what will you say?

Anonymous

Not much! LMAO

http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/4BURH23ECV5Y233OBCJTCWZP2U Don

Weird…I’m not convinced this device is even real. The description of the way it functions makes no sense at all. Broadcasting my words back to me will not render me unable to speak. Even the “hearing your words echo back on skype” example makes no sense. Anyone ever rendered unable to speak while using skype?

FAKE DEVICE.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KKY5QEQ4AX3EZ5IEDY5UTB6OOQ TheMan

I’ve heard my echo on my cell phone many times before, and it doesn’t render me speechless. Is annoying as all hell, but it doesn’t turn me into a mute.

Anyways, I hope they didn’t spend too much time on this project as it can be rendered completely useless by plugging your ears.

Anonymous

Good point, one that I had not thought of until you brought it up! However the fact that there is research into this area is scary. Whether this particular device works as touted or not is beside the point. The simple fact that there are people that wish to have power over others speech is Orwellian, and should be fought. Speakers and others through out history have endured hecklers, and to say this and similar devices are for the suppression of these rude people is a red herring. The real reason for these things is to shut down protest speeches from a distance.

http://profile.yahoo.com/ZIHOMQZHAIUAHJJPNYGMGWNSQY Christina

That gun won’t work on strong minds and Voices. And while some people, particularly the ones who fashioned this “weapon”, may seek to limit the power of what they obviously fear most–speech–they forget entirely that Actions speak louder than words.

http://profile.yahoo.com/ZIHOMQZHAIUAHJJPNYGMGWNSQY Christina

That gun won’t work on strong minds and Voices. And while some people, particularly the ones who fashioned this “weapon”, may seek to limit the power of what they obviously fear most–speech–they forget entirely that Actions speak louder than words.

http://profile.yahoo.com/ZIHOMQZHAIUAHJJPNYGMGWNSQY Christina

That gun won’t work on strong minds and Voices. And while some people, particularly the ones who fashioned this “weapon”, may seek to limit the power of what they obviously fear most–speech–they forget entirely that Actions speak louder than words.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KKY5QEQ4AX3EZ5IEDY5UTB6OOQ TheMan

And I’m assuming this will work on girlfriends and wives?

Anonymous

All I can say in response to such a remark is that unless you’re an extremely wealthy man, you’d better be prepared to put up with celibacy…because no woman in her right mind with any self-respect would put up with *that* for long.

Anonymous

Crushing free speech, yet another violation of our rights. The gov’t constantly violates our rights. They violate the 1st Amendment by caging protesters and banning books like “America Deceived II”.
They violate the 4th and 5th Amendment by allowing TSA to grope you.
They violate the entire Constitution by starting undeclared wars.
Impeach Obama, support Ron Paul.
Last link of “America Deceived II” before it is completely banned:http://www.amazon.com/America-Deceived-II-Possession-interrogation/dp/1450257437

Can we have one of those gun’s or is it just for the elite? I would love to aim it at some politicians and religious leader’s that can’t say 3 word’s without telling a lie.

http://profile.yahoo.com/B2WKW6GAXGZPCHGOYHXXJE3DTM Rick

Okay, honawable, owiental ovawohds, aren’t you gilding honwable wily?

I knew this parlor trick back in 1980 when it was called a Pioneer CT-F1250 3 head cassette deck and only cost about $600.00 retail.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2K23INMICDUGSSOH2BGBAI3R4Q Russell

Fuck this, I’m learning American Sign Language,,,

Anonymous

Then the Fascists will just develop a “Spiderman-like web thrower” that will render your hands mute!

ret1

Get your pots and pans and wooden spoons and start banging away at everything the NWO blabs about knowing it is all lies, deceit and betrayal anyway. Carry them with you, everywhere you go to make sure they are not heard any more than you are not heard. Scream “BLAH, BLAH, BLAH” and let them know that YOU know they’ll need a lot more than a few stupid sound effect machines to quell the voice of the one.

http://twitter.com/TeenTeam_Comics DustinHunterBilodeau

MY LIFE IS COMPLETE

Anonymous

As with any weapon, the relative merit of its use depends entirely on the one squeezing (never pull) the trigger. And the ONLY way to minimize its misuse is to ensure that all such personal weapons are accessible by all law-abiding citizens, so they may properly defend themselves.

Anonymous

Delayed Auditory Feedback is also used as therapy for stuttering. Imagine. This gun can reduce stuttering!

Anonymous

Hey, I tried the effects of DAF with a program called speech monitor. It didn’t impede my ability to speak at all. It’s just an annoying echo.

Anonymous

The fact that there is research into this area is scary. Whether this particular device works as touted or not is beside the point. The simple fact that there are people that wish to have power over others speech is Orwellian, and should be fought vigorously. Speakers and others through out history have endured hecklers, and to say this and similar devices are for the suppression of these rude people is a red herring. The real reason for these things is to shut down protest speeches from a distance. Contravening free speech,and giving the “Police State” one more weapon against you and I !

Victor Franca

umm we had ear protection already which is way more cost effective and we can use umm large signs.. and putting your finger in your ears and going lalalalalalalalalala works quite well. This is experimentation and i salute them for that but not all ideas go mainstream.

I mean, come on, you are what you eat, right? And, from this article, that is pretty well proven out!

http://twitter.com/chasesan Chase

I think people are going a little crazy and purposely coming up with worse case scenarios.

The way the gun works is by sending your speech back and you and confusing your internal voice, which we use to track what we have already said and where we are in a sentence/word (which is why it doesn’t work with meaningless noises). It also likely does not work with short words like yes and no, since by the time it causes internal disruption you have already finished speaking.

Pushing past the silencing factor of the gun requires only focusing on what you are saying, and using other methods to track what you are saying, such as movement of your mouth and such, which is a more difficult and slower, but is similar to how some deaf keep track of it to speak.

Don’t get the wrong idea, we won’t start talking like deaf people, since we have hearing and have long since sorted out how to make the correct sounds, but rather use a similar method to track your progression in something you are saying.

tl;dr
Stop jumping the gun people, its not foolproof by any means. Calm down, jeesh. It can interrupt you, but it cannot lock your jaw down.

Hidden Knowledge

So this means this device can be made pretty much useless by a written speech, right? Since you can simple hold your finger under the words you already said.

Tim Harmon

Will tinfoil block this?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EXAUCZ7BNGFM6DVPQ5UQQOY4EU Yener

Maybe they can invent a device to get rid of politicians altogether

Anonymous

I think the invention is wrong minded. Although everybody hates people who are rude and pushy, the very behavior says a lot about the person. Public speaking requires self control, not control by a machine which would have to be operated by some other subjective person. If the parties in a debate are all being rude to each other, the whole point of debating is lost and they might as well not debate.

Perhaps the other thing that will prevent this from being little more than an oddity is that people can learn to ignore it. It just takes some practice to ignore the feedback. People do it all of the time on CB radios. So it won’t be all that effective, just another noisemaker in the crowd.

Chris Enlow

Cover your ears and speak on.

Mattey Hunter

yall really dumb

occam24

Wouldn’t work on everyone. DAF has been used in speech therapy circles for a long time (often as a tactic to reduce stuttering), and it’s known that some people aren’t bothered by it. With practice you can learn to separate incoming from outgoing. Also, most people who work in TV or radio have already developed this ability.

Watch a few minutes of MSNBC weeknights and that “grunts and gestures” thing starts to look pretty good.

Anonymous

We already have the Orwellian thought interruptor. Aircraft noise. The dumber you are, the less it bothers you.

Anonymous

Can i use this on my wifey, LOL

Anonymous

Someone should create a mobile version that could follow Rush Limbaugh around. I would say the entire GOP, however their consistent bickering and second grade whining about name calling is beyond amusing to watch (although, as an American, its embarrassing our plausible leaders could behave so immaturely). Maybe the Japanese could focus on other issues they are currently having and curb freedom killing research?

http://twitter.com/prestonofcourse prestonofcourse

“Well, actually, that’s a lie: Apparently DAF doesn’t work with utterances like “ahhh!” or “boooo!” or other non-wordy constructs. So, basically, we’d all be reduced to communicating with grunts and gestures.” <—–so we would be reduced to what we are becoming now? anyone watch the gop debates???

Anonymous

So this wouldn’t work if the person couldn’t hear what was being spent back at them?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LCMCDDBA3XMCKKS5V2RLODHW5A willda

I work in an elementary school and I would LOVE one of these things!! Are you kidding me, do you know how quickly kids would learn not to speak out of turn or raise their hand to be called on?!? It would be AWESOME.

Kwazai

foam earplugs?
a megaphone that rebounces it?
screaming deaf people? Really. Is it psychologocal and defeatable mind over matter or is it just impossible to move vocal chords (resonance?)
M M M MAXXXXX H H Headroooooooom

http://www.facebook.com/people/William-David-Kull/100002571405599 William David Kull

WOW FORCIBLE CENSORSHIP BET OBAMA WOULD LOVE TO HAVE ONE OF THOSE

Anonymous

“We have to establish and obey rules for proper
turn-taking when speaking. However, some people tend to lengthen their
turns or deliberately interrupt other people when it is their turn in
order to establish their presence rather than achieve more fruitful
discussions. Furthermore, some people tend to jeer at speakers to
invalidate their speech.”
===
This is pure Japanese think! The Japanese mindset is one of total group cohesion. It seems like they have taken this to new heights of absurdity. But it is a frightening application and you can be sure that the Pentagon is gonna want to get their hands on one of these babies. Politicians will love it. Free speech is rapidly eroding. Dystopian future indeed.

Anonymous

i am at a loss for words…without communication we dissolve..

Douglas Macpherson

There’s less here than you might think. The delay to interrupt speech is about .2 sec.
Sound travels at about 1000 ft/sec, so it takes sound about .1 sec to travel 100 ft, oh, and another .1 sec to travel back so all you need is a highly directional mic and a loudspeaker to get the effect. The distance doesn’t have to be exact, a delay of between .18 and .25 might still work. I don’t remember the exact numbers from when I tried it in the lab a very long time ago.

The refinements are only a method to tell the distance so that you can move to the right place and an ability to focus the beam so others don’t catch on.

It can’t be used for crowd control — too many voices from too many distances.
It would be hard to use against a speaker because you have to get at the right distance with a clear shot. And It can’t be used for long against a speaker because the perp would be spotted rather quickly.

Hate to be a killjoy.

Anonymous

This won’t matter for those of us who use VOIP and SIP frequently. We’re already conditioned to ignore the echo at various delays. As many have already stated, headphones will handle the rest. Most smartphones already have noise cancelling mics so expect to see apps that use the phone’s mic system to filter sound directly into your headphones while simultaneously recording the audio (and possibly video) of the event for future use.

If you build a better mouse trap, you just help breed smarter mice.

http://www.facebook.com/mike.hughjass Mike Hugh-jass

What nonsense.
“At a political rally, an audience member could completely lock down [...] Obama from speaking”
Yeah… some bozo could point a strange device at the President and…. make him stop talking? Or get a few secret service agents to slam them to the floor before the trigger was pulled?

“a totalitarian state could point the speech jammers at the audience”A totalitarian state could give a damn less. If you mouth off, they arrest you or disappear you. Yelling at them at a speech just makes it easy for them to find you.Sebasitan Anthony needs to turn down the paranoia and crank the common sense.

Anonymous

Libs salivate at the possibilities of shutting down anything they disagree with.

I know firsthand, when I am on centrist or conservative web sites, no matter how left or right leaning my posts are, I am not censored.

Not the case with left leaning web sites, which almost universally shut down anyone who posts any comment that is not far left leaning.

The TRUE threat to the globe is the LIBERAL, who must be thwarted, lest he turn the planet into a lib police state, ala Soviet Russia, Maoist China, Hitlerian Germany, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia.

Noojoke Seriously

Sound can be very harmful. Physically, ears, and mentally mind. It’s time to start suing irresponsible authorities for practicing Satanist acts. Sue their pants off. There is plenty of statistics and research on that stuff out there.

Scott

Wouldn’t it be easy to defeat the device by turning to the side or wearing ear plugs?

Jerry Gartner

I have earplugs or monitoring headphones. You can’t silence me!

http://twitter.com/504pro Dan the Man

What a dumb invention. once a person realizes what is going on, they will just talk over their own voice. It happens in xbox to me and i ignore it and keep talking. so fail!

Anonymous

Hey, caan I get one?? My wife…..

http://www.facebook.com/people/Ron-Willison/1729099268 Ron Willison

I have got to get me one of these. Wow the idea of getting a word in edgewise when my girlfriend is on a rant. Please god let this not be a hoax.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Ron-Willison/1729099268 Ron Willison

I have got to get me one of these. Wow the idea of getting a word in edgewise when my girlfriend is on a rant. Please god let this not be a hoax.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_F2PRAH5QWXGPTZUEGF53K4DYIQ Shawty

Where are these sold? What are their prices?

http://profile.yahoo.com/5FIQGPV3535VTHFT26DO6VBNH4 John

Tool

Jordan Daye

Did anyone else not find this thing to be at all threatening? All it does is annoying repeat what someone is saying back at them…

Anonymous

Did anyone else not find this thing to be at all threatening? All it does is annoying repeat what someone is saying back at them…

So.. Did it work? Are you completely speechless now? ;-)

Hidden Knowledge

I was, and it weren’t even my own words :O

http://www.onlinebackupservices.co Backups kid

that coould wind people up, when politicans are having heated debates, and then some biased monitor uses the silencer on speakers they dont agree with, or at least when they suspect this is happening. It could tip them over the edge, and lead to physical confrontation out of anger.

Google search for “Ukraine politicians fight in parliament after Russia Black Sea deal” we could have more comedic situations like that.

http://profile.yahoo.com/5FIQGPV3535VTHFT26DO6VBNH4 John

The fascist loving left (Democrats) will love this device.

Anonymous

I think it’s more a tool for the freedom of speech bashing republicans myself.

It’s a notch up from the mute button you use when watching the comedic genius that is The Daily Show (With Jon Stewart) and a notch down from killing Martin Luther King Jnr.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XWVFKUC4FHKJESQZYHMCWN33MA Bob

As a professional sound system installer, I can say that this story is totally over the top in terms of physics and psychology. The effect is not unlike what a umpire on a football field deals with every game day. You train yourself to ignore this. While sending back a out-of-phase signal might work on a single person, if you were in a large crowd the effect would cancel itself out in short order. Bad Science!!!

Anonymous

This is really more of a toy than a freedom of speech destroying tool.

Vin Moretti

Problem is, it’s bullshit. After reading this article, I tried delayed auditory feedback, and whatever the delay, I can’t reproduce the supposed silencing effects. And this is in a controlled, laboratory setting with speech microphones, and top of the line headphones and speakers. I am unconvinced that this is actually a real phenomenon.

Anonymous

Liberals have the loudest mouths of all. Ever listen to one when he/she realizes that their argument is weak? They talk louder and faster so the other person can no longer be heard as well. Unfortunately, this looks like a weapon that will be used against conservative, or any type of speech that is opposite of their own.

Anonymous

you must be a Limp-bough follower

Anonymous

You don’t have to follow Rush to know that what I wrote earlier is true. Liberals can’t back up their arguments so all they do is talk louder and faster. It’s actually quite amusing to watch them….but since you like to make assumptions about me, how about I make one about you? YOU must be a koolaid drinking lemming that will believe anything and everything you hear from MSNBC, and the rest of the white house propaganda outlets. Lenin had a term for people such as yourself: “Useful idiot”.

James Philpott

What’s a liberal? Your a tool obviously but I’m missing this liberal thing. You are liberal with accusations and trying to bait. You have nothing to back up your arguments, except to deny what was said against your argument by calling it something other than your opinion and restate your opinion. You are a liberal mock maker I take it. Excellent.

Anonymous

James, you’re an idiot that can’t spell. You write that you’re “missing this liberal thing”. Seriously? I comment about how liberals would like to use this tool to shut conservatives up went over your head? The point I was making is that liberals would love to have this dream machine to shut up conservatives because they can’t support their own arguments with logic. This way, they won’t have to go into their “talk louder and faster” over other people talking mode. As for my being a liberal trying to bait….I think it’s quite the opposite. So, put down the koolaid and go find yourself a dictionary.

James Philpott

Do you wish the gun would work? Really?

Logic seems not to be your strong point. Liberal is a word bandied about by people trying to make a point assuming that the person is not the sharing the same point of view as their assumed “conservative” one. The word can also mean what you are doing which is taking liberties with language. Hence liberal use of language as in applying it on a double entendre (that’s French for portmanteau) to discredit a point of view or attack as you did above when you started in with your non-sequiter drawing a fat pill popping loose mouthed untrustworthy bully into the argument. Your additional assumptions that somehow the desire to shout people down by being louder (as your constant use of this forum describes) is related to people who are “liberal” with their words and being the opposite of his (and we assume your) “conservatism”. That was the laugh that is flying over your head. Hence I take back the original designation of yu as a liberal and I would like to swap it for a liberal dolt (your free to swap that for “ditto-headed hate monger” if you like.

I find myself wishing that gun thingy in the article would actually work on text here.

Oh and JoJo58 nothing was mis-spelled in my previous posting. Dictionaries can be bought and owned but if they are not used they are worthless. You should consider one yourself.

Anonymous

LOL James, do you also hear voices in your head? Where did I write that I wanted this “gun” to work? Um…I didn’t.

Oh, and you DID misspell the first word in your second sentence: “What’s a liberal? Your a tool obviously but I’m missing this liberal thing.” The word should be you’re (you are) NOT your, so you even used the incorrect word. You also keep hyphenating mis-spell. It’s ONE word.

As for the rest of your post, you bore me.

James Philpott

There is just one voice in my head right now and that’s one that says you walk away from arguments you can not win, or add anything of value. Please, stop trying to pretend to make sense. Please.

I do see that you are the type who out of this same fear would need to rely on a machine like the one in this article to pretend you have won an argument. An excuse like being bored won’t help you in life and will make you out to be the person you are, feeble.

Anonymous

JoJo you are an idiot! GOP and Dem are BOTH THE EXACT SAME. I haven’t seen a GOP guy be able to keep his mouth shut even when he is proven wrong. GOP are the worst of all with all their claims of small gov and then want to control who you sleep with and what you put into your own body- I guess small gov to businesses and big gov to personal lives right? My God have you even listened to the GOP shout and argue with ANYONE that doesn’t TOTALY agree with EVERYTHING they say? Dems are not much better EXCEPT they aren’t as imposing. You can disagree with a Dem, or Liberal and still have a conversation with them- you cannot disagree with a GOP and still have a conversation bc they will just speak louder and get more insulting. To even comment about liberals- btw liberals are not a party that has ever been in office so that just proves how stupid your comment really is- is to show just how simple minded you are. I’m a liberal bc I can think for myself and do not follow a party who demand you agree with everything they say. Talk about drinking cool aid the GOP are the main ones pouring the cool aid. Who invaded a country based on lies? Who let the economy inflate to an un-sustainable bubble for 7 years? In fact if you want to point out facts every time a GOP has LEFT office in the past 50yrs the economy has always been in the toilet. If anything this device should be used to shut the GOP up as they continue to lie and mislead the simple minded like yourself. I mean seriously you really think Liberals are the ones that run their mouth the most- as if you are so simple minded to label every one under one banner while ignoring the actions of your own party.

Anonymous

JoJo you are an idiot! GOP and Dem are BOTH THE EXACT SAME. I haven’t seen a GOP guy be able to keep his mouth shut even when he is proven wrong. GOP are the worst of all with all their claims of small gov and then want to control who you sleep with and what you put into your own body- I guess small gov to businesses and big gov to personal lives right? My God have you even listened to the GOP shout and argue with ANYONE that doesn’t TOTALY agree with EVERYTHING they say? Dems are not much better EXCEPT they aren’t as imposing. You can disagree with a Dem, or Liberal and still have a conversation with them- you cannot disagree with a GOP and still have a conversation bc they will just speak louder and get more insulting. To even comment about liberals- btw liberals are not a party that has ever been in office so that just proves how stupid your comment really is- is to show just how simple minded you are. I’m a liberal bc I can think for myself and do not follow a party who demand you agree with everything they say. Talk about drinking cool aid the GOP are the main ones pouring the cool aid. Who invaded a country based on lies? Who let the economy inflate to an un-sustainable bubble for 7 years? In fact if you want to point out facts every time a GOP has LEFT office in the past 50yrs the economy has always been in the toilet. If anything this device should be used to shut the GOP up as they continue to lie and mislead the simple minded like yourself. I mean seriously you really think Liberals are the ones that run their mouth the most- as if you are so simple minded to label every one under one banner while ignoring the actions of your own party.

Anonymous

Are we heading toward another ‘dark ages’ where people say they have had enough and universally reject all tecknowledgy both good and bad to get to a simpler and more honest time. Personally I will miss flushing toilets the most.

Anonymous

As come on! Am I the only nerd in the room yelling ..EARPLUGS!!!!
Simple cheap countermeasure…earplugs. This is a neat effect, but so dependant on “proper” conditions that it is trivial to overcome. Look…I’ll jam my fingers in my ears and have my say. La la la, I can’t hear myself!!!!

Luke Richmond

The amount of coverage this is getting is far out of proportion with the device’s importance. Perhaps some totalitarian leader somewhere is just now stroking his moustache with Machiavellian glee, but these devices, while simple to construct and use, would be just as simple to resist. Want to speak freely, say at a political protest? Just put on a set of sound-blocking headphones so you can only hear your voice reverberating in your head whenever someone points one of these things at you. Or pre-record your words of protest. Or move out of the way. Or practice speaking even when the thing is pointed at you, etc., and I’m sure clever folks out there could easily devise an “anti-speech jammer” to counteract the effect. Anyone who doubts that people, even in a totalitarian context, wouldn’t rapidly find workarounds to avoid the so-called “jamming” effect is grievously underestimating human ingenuity. (But then again, totalitarian governments tend to do that.) As far as the free world, if someone went around using these things, whether in business, politics, or elsewhere, the social backlash would be so severe they’d rapidly be forced to halt the practice. “Hey, that guy’s trying to point a speech jammer at us. What an A-hole! Get him!” I fail to see any context in which the speech-jammer could survive un-hated, except perhaps as a party prank.

It wont work, its a completely load of bollox, please ignore. Carry on, nothing to see here.

James Philpott

So this device can be invalidated by using a common pair of in-ear headphones and a microphone taped to your throat or chest.

Not actually that scary.

http://twitter.com/babrahamse Ben Abrahamse

It’s chilling when one considers the zeal with which law enforcement in the US took to using pepper spray and tasers, originally intended to be “nonlethal force”, as “compliance tools”. I could totally see something like this used as “crowd control”.

Anonymous

I have to admire the cops restraint with the OWS crowd. The zeal in which OWS liked to destroy private and public property…It’s especially easy to destroy things when you don’t have to pay taxes.

Anonymous

Hey, this is GREAT! Can hardly wait to test it out on Al Sharpton or Debbie Whatsername-Shulz.

Anonymous

Hey, this is GREAT! Can hardly wait to test it out on Al Sharpton or Debbie Whatsername-Shulz.

Anonymous

Hey, this is GREAT! Can hardly wait to test it out on Al Sharpton or Debbie Whatsername-Shulz.

Anonymous

Hey, this is GREAT! Can hardly wait to test it out on Al Sharpton or Debbie Whatsername-Shulz.

Anonymous

Hey, this is GREAT! Can hardly wait to test it out on Al Sharpton or Debbie Whatsername-Shulz.

Anonymous

What they really need to create is a device that take your words BACK after you’ve spoken them! It would be a huge help for Joe Biden!!!

Anonymous

What they really need to create is a device that take your words BACK after you’ve spoken them! It would be a huge help for Joe Biden!!!

Anonymous

What they really need to create is a device that take your words BACK after you’ve spoken them! It would be a huge help for Joe Biden!!!

Anonymous

What they really need to create is a device that take your words BACK after you’ve spoken them! It would be a huge help for Joe Biden!!!

Anonymous

What they really need to create is a device that take your words BACK after you’ve spoken them! It would be a huge help for Joe Biden!!!

Anonymous

What they really need to create is a device that take your words BACK after you’ve spoken them! It would be a huge help for Joe Biden!!!

Anonymous

What they really need to create is a device that take your words BACK after you’ve spoken them! It would be a huge help for Joe Biden!!!

RYAN ALVIDRES

I would have so much fun with this thing.

RYAN ALVIDRES

I would have so much fun with this thing.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=542808310 Walt Mistler

This device can be easily defeated by putting your fingers in your ears. The concept isn’t new. I remember a display at some science museum 40 years ago that demonstrated it using headphones.

This isn’t at all a problem for free speech. You could easily render it ineffective it just by wearing earplugs, and it can’t block communication over any channel other than in-person, individual speech.

http://profile.yahoo.com/OU7OLJMOFGPLRD5SU5DBGU6ITE ghost

I want one of these to use at my school

http://profile.yahoo.com/OU7OLJMOFGPLRD5SU5DBGU6ITE ghost

I want one of these to use in my classes at school, I have a bunch of kids who don’t know when to stop talking and start listening.

http://profile.yahoo.com/OU7OLJMOFGPLRD5SU5DBGU6ITE ghost

I want one of these to use in my classes at school, I have a bunch of kids who don’t know when to stop talking and start listening.

http://twitter.com/jdirt2019 jdirtNOW

can i overcome the effects by wearing noise-reducing earplugs? if not noise cancelling headphones in combo w/plugs?

chrisfs

“On the flip side, a totalitarian state could point the speech jammers at the audience to shut them up.”, No it actually could not do that. The effect it works by only works on individual speakers. It has a directional mike and directional speakers to play back the individual speaker’s words directly at them. Replaying crowd noise back at the crown with a .5 delay won’t do anything.

Waron Sanguanwongwan

There’s an app for that! google “Speech Zapper”

cselab

At its most basic, this gun could be used in
libraries and other quiet spaces to stop people from speaking — but its
second application is a lot more chilling. new york psychologists

Waron Sanguanwongwan

Download Speech Zapper app from app store then attach a speaker to it, then get got the speech jammer gun

“Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF), which has long been known to interrupt your speech”, erm, what’s the difference between this and hearing your echoing voice in a large stadium or other similar environment? Nothing? Doesn’t stop people on stadium PA systems from speaking …

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